Okay. I didn't want to deal w/ the lotto, so I just bought a rear mezz ticket like a week ago.
I went up to my seat, and saw some people I recognized-some who have seen the show more than me. One was up w/ me, having lost lotto. The mezz was sadly empty--only section 3 was filled--even the front mezz was half-filled in sections 2 and 4. Anyway, we were gonna move down, but the usher called us over, and put us in...rear mezz row B? random. Anyway, other friends joined.
Anyway, so the show started. It was so great. We quietly clapped Laura's entrance. Then we clapped much louder when she was introduced in the song--Jonathan proceeded to grab her breasts, she and we cracked up a lot.
Then What Was A Woman To Do. They pointed out to me that Rak makes hysterical faces as soon as she comes out, and we all laughed together. You guys should look out for that next time you see the show.
Then Laura came down as the usher. We cheered some more. She began to point to the second mezz, then flinched, looked around for a split second, and changed her "pointing" to us, and we all laughed.
Jason has a new snort he does. Funny.
Great Big Stuff started the 4 of us doing some mouthing/dancing along. FUN.
Jason's really coming into his own as Freddy. He does some of his own dancing, and phrasing and stuff. I'm proud; he's even better than the last time I saw him.
Pryce is much better at Give Them What They Want now. The beginning keeps up w/ the...non-beginning of the show.
I can't tell you how much I missed Sara! She was soo great, even better than I remember. I missed her screams, and just the energy and excitedness she brings to the character. Her and Jonathan work together GREAT. They have a lot of fun. I missed Sara's dancing, and screaming and kicking legs and singing and everything. She really is one-of-a-kind in this role. I love her!
Jason put more energy into the beef jerky segment than I've ever seen him do. Oh and Jonathan took a while to wiggle his butt in front of the mirror.
Ruprecht was great of course. Not quite as great as Jonathan and Norbert, but Jason was still very good. Did the licking and the new humping, but Jonathan didn't crack up. Jonathan's just getting cookier and it's great. Jason again came more into his own, adding some of his own dance steps that worked well.
Rachel was fantastic as always. It was definitely her strongest Here I Am. She's more comfortable with the role--silly and excited, and I still love her.
Jonathan gave a whole new wacky take on Shiffhausen. Instead of jumping in...he...stomped in...like a toy soldier. He went more out with the feather(I typed this up last night and wrote shower instead of feather...very odd). Jason
especially seemed to do a great ow into yodel. Then after Jonathan did the whole violin thing he started tipping over, spinning his head, looking like he realized he was crazy, right before Jason said "I guess that's that."
Ooh, the More We Dance was fun. We were all dancing and Jonathan did more crazy moves. Laura came in w/ the bar, doing her own dancing, which we cheered. She
did some shaking vodka dances and screamed w/ us at the end.
Lucie was fine--didn't strike me as similar to Joanna, especially great, or especially bad. It's probably still early and I think she just needs some more time to really get a feel for the part. Again, she wasn't bad, just...I can't think of much to say. She was
good.
So finally curtain calls came. As usual, I was the first up. We cheered really loud. Laura choreographed 4 blown kisses to us 4 beats in the curtain call music. Finally...someone pushed her a bit forward, and Jason grabbed her and brought her to center stage. We screamed more, then the curtain went down. I was disappointed, but apparently ensemble members don't get announcements/speeches. That sucks.
At the stage door, Laura talked to us for a while. She was so appreciative that we came and told us how awesome we were in the audience. She said the cast was saying that "her people" were here. She said when the curtain went down, the whole cast sang Happy Trails and she cried. Awww! . She said it was fun today--like Jonathan touching her breasts(she said everyone gets special treatment on their last days) but she really began to feel sad at the end.
She said this is an awful week for everyone, so she wasn't too worried about today's attendance, but that summer attendance would be very important. At one point she folded her lip, and I went into the usher face. I told her that, and she was like OMG that's so funny you realized that--I said no, it's sad. She said people tell her she makes that face all the time--Holly said it's a Lauraism. She said she was terrified when Jason pulled her to the center--she tried to hide. Umm...we gave her flowers. She said the cast was going out to celebrate her...again...aww.
Umm...aww, I don't think I can remember anything else we discussed. (or if we did). She kept thanking us profusely. We all finally hugged. I'll really miss her. It was a bittersweet day.
I guess I'll very briefly mention Saturday. I met Miss Traci for the first time.
Then Traci won the Q lotto(woow). I got a full-price rear orch ticket for $30. Love the Q. The new cast is good--I missed Barrett(who was out)--Howie wasn't as cute, but was good, especially as Rod the end--I missed Jordan, but it was great to see Rick and Natalie again.
And then we headed over to DRS. We waited on the stage, then Greg came. He went around to everyone, and he started to say nice to see you again, but I interrupted and said it's nice to meet him. Everyone laughed. And then he was like have you met Ali? I was like Ali Ali? Miss Ali was there too! He gave a big tour, and I was the quietest I've ever been. It was HARD. But I did get to go back down to the pit again. Ali and I had a moment. That's all I'll say--let others have a chance at long posts.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
Updated On: 6/6/06 at 02:15 PM
I have to send her flowers now! I hope she will rock in her next role 
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
